Recent advances in modeling the risk of mycotoxin contamination in crops

Battilani Paola

Recent advances confirm the focus in modelling mycotoxin in few crops; cereals, both small grains and
maize, deserve major attention. Deoxinivalenol is still the mycotoxin of major interest in wheat, with some
studies developed on T2 and HT2 toxins. Regarding maize, after fumonisins, the interest moved to
aflatoxins. Minor efforts were devoted to aflatoxin contamination in nuts and ochratoxin A in grapes.
Weather data are the main driving variables used as input in all modelling approaches, in empiric models
commonly supported by cropping data. Few example of mechanistic models were developed, but they
seems more promising in the future, when climate change is expected to significantly impact on
mycotoxins.